OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education (OSDE) and State Superintendent Ryan Walters discussed disagreements at the monthly state board meeting held on Thursday.

This is the second board meeting where the new board members, appointed by Governor Kevin Stitt in February, took part.

Thursday’s board meeting also covered the agenda for the March meeting,, which was canceled after the agenda was not publicly posted in time.

New members Chris VanDehende, Michael Tinney, and Ryan Deatherage were appointed by Governor Stitt to make the OSDE “less political.”

They challenged multiple items on the March meeting agenda, which led them to be tabled, postponed or flat out rejected.

The revised social studies standards were again debated at the meeting.

In February, the new board members requested more time to review the standards before approving. That was struck down, and the standards were approved. Only Deatherage voted no.

Now, some of those board members said they felt deceived following claims that those standards were edited after the board’s approval.

Those claims were echoed by Governor Stitt at a press conference on Wednesday.

“The thing that concerned me was the mechanics, how it was done,” Stitt said at Wednesday’s press conference. “So, it’s been shown to me by the board members that they were emailed a copy of those standards, but then there was a different standard sitting on the desk that they actually voted on. Well, that seems very, very odd.”

Superintendent Walters denied these claims as “inaccurate,” “rumors,” and “lies.”

Walters’ office handed documents titled, “Facts Matter - Stop Playing Games,” to several media outlets, including FOX23.

0 of 3

,

The handout includes a timeline of the standards’ edits and also emails of when the standards were sent to board members. The final page is a screenshot showing each version of the standards and when they were last edited.

According to the handout, the final version was edited the day before the board voted on them, the same copy emailed to them that same night.

“I’ve read some things in the press about our standard,” Superintendent Walters said in opening comments on Thursday. “I’ve read some of the comments made by this board. I’ve read some of the comments made by our Governor. I saw board members claiming they were given a different document than what was voted on and what was given to the legislature. So, I take that very seriously.”

Walters said every version of the standards were sent to the legislature to clear up any confusion. He said the standards were edited after public comment, then submitted to the board for approval and then the legislature. This is legal, but some board members say they did not get to see those edits and were frustrated they did not take part them.

“There may have been some comments that weren’t 100 percent inaccurate, but I wouldn’t say that’s new for the Department of Education,” VanDehende said.

The new board members claimed they felt misled.

Tinney said he believed he was voting on what was posted for public comment.

Deatherage said he feels deceived.

“I was misled, so I feel deceived on that because here we are still talking about the standards,” Deatherage said. “I think this whole issue would have gone by if we would have just slowed the process and let us understand what was in there.”

VandDehende said he would not have approved them had he known it was the edited version.

Walters responded by saying he cannot control what they download and what they read before voting, reaffirming they were sent the right copies.

“There were no inaccuracies in the process as we gave you information,” Walters said. “Can we all agree that that’s what happened and this fake controversy that there was this ol’ switcheroo around here is completely bunk?”

“I think to say what you just said and call it a fake controversy is disingenuous,” Vandehende replied. “It is a controversy because the changes were not known to the public or the people involved, and they feel there was a bait and switch.”

Walters reassured the board members of what was sent to the legislature. The board members requested more time to review the standards and make sure they have the correct copies before a vote is made.

Here’s a copy of what was sent to the legislature.

However, the disagreement continued into further items on the agenda, even down to the approval of the transcript, or “minutes,” for past meetings.

Those were all tabled as board members claimed the transcript did not accurately reflect what was discussed in the February meeting.

The other issue was that three of the board members said they could not approve the minutes because four of the members were not present.

After 4 p.m., Senator Adam Pugh filed a resolution disapproving of the social studies and science standards in whole, citing three main reasons, including how quickly the standards were voted on after being set to board members less than 24 hours earlier.

The full Senate would have to decide to vote on it by early next week, and the House would then have to vote on it by Thursday, which is the deadline for when state lawmakers are required to respond to the standards created by the Board of Education.

The board meeting minutes will be continued to the next monthly meeting, which will include three months of transcripts needing approval.